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Commissioners approve 78-townhome plan at Langtree with buffers, crosswalk commitment and fire-station condition
Summary
The board approved Mattamy Homes' conditional rezoning and annexation May 19 to allow 78 townhomes on a 15.35-acre Langtree Road site, with conditions including a 30-foot tree-preservation strip, an 8-foot fence, sidewalk commitments and a construction hold until a Fire Station 7 agreement is executed or sprinklers are required.
The Mooresville Board of Commissioners on May 19 approved a conditional rezoning (CZ2024-13) and related voluntary annexation and utility-extension request for a roughly 15.35-acre site on Langtree Road to allow a 78-unit townhome project by Mattamy Homes, after extended public comment and negotiated conditions intended to address neighbors' concerns.
Planner Sandy Howell said the site is in the town's extraterritorial jurisdiction; annexation would place the property in Voting Ward 1 and extend town utilities. The applicant requested conditional Traditional Neighborhood zoning for the site to permit 78 townhomes; by-right density in the site's current district would allow roughly 30 single-family detached homes, Howell said.
Mattamy representative Colin Brown and Mattamy team members presented revisions made after the board first considered the case in February. The conditions the developer offered include: elimination of the previously proposed street and pedestrian connections to Pin Oak Lane and Helms Lane; preservation of a continuous 30-foot natural tree-preservation area along the boundary with waterfront neighbors (with one small revegetation pocket where grading is required); supplemental evergreen plantings on the adjacent side; installation of an 8-foot wooden fence along the property line; and a public sidewalk alignment that would link the site to existing sidewalks and, if necessary approvals and easements are secured, a crosswalk and ADA ramps across Langtree to Langtree at Lake Norman.
Mattamy also committed to an affordable/attainable-housing component and a phasing plan for construction. In response to neighbor concerns about building height, the developer provided topographic analysis and committed to a maximum building elevation consistent with the submitted exhibit; staff and the developer agreed to a limit of approximately 39.7 feet measured as shown in the plan set.
Public comment at the hearing was split. Neighbors from Oak Harbor and Langtree Waterfront who oppose the rezoning said they prefer the site remain low-density or single-family, argued the three access roads and three-story units are incompatible with existing homes, and asked for more buffer and two-story units instead of three. Supporters and several residents who live where the development would back up said they had met with the developer, accepted many of the concessions, and preferred the proposed plan to county development or a different nonresidential use.
City staff and the applicant said the project had completed a traffic analysis and that it would not trigger additional developer transportation requirements beyond the agreed sidewalk and crosswalk commitments; however, the crosswalk and some sidewalk segments require cooperation from other property owners and approvals from the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT). The developer told the board it had obtained partial agreements for sidewalk easements and would complete the remainder if the adjacent property owners and NCDOT approve the designs.
On fire and emergency service concerns, the board and the developer agreed to a new condition: Mattamy will not begin land-disturbing construction on the site until the town has executed the construction agreement for the planned Fire Station 7, which the town says is needed to meet local response standards in that corridor. As an alternative safety trigger, the developer agreed the town may require sprinklers in units if the fire-station agreement is not executed in a timeframe the board deems unacceptable. Town staff said Mount Mourne Fire Department will continue to provide mutual aid in the interim.
Commissioner Luis moved to approve CZ2024-13 with the agreed conditions; Commissioner DeWeese seconded. After discussion the board voted 4-2 in favor. The board also approved the voluntary annexation and utility-extension request for the same property in a separate motion.
The ordinance and annexation include specific, binding concept-plan conditions; final site plan, engineering, and permits must still be completed before vertical construction.
